Inside The Bills

Bills new kicker Stephen Hauschka might have some work to do to get to know Buffalo a bit better, but he’s already familiar with his special teams coordinator. That’s because he and Danny Crossman have worked together before.

“I have some familiarity with some of the coaches. Leslie Frazier was in Minnesota when I first got to the Vikings in 2008. I spent the summer there as a rookie undrafted guy. I was with Danny Crossman in Detroit back in 2010. So it is good to catch up with them. Looking forward to working with Coach Crossman especially.”

In the 2010 preseason, veteran Detroit kicker Jason Hanson suffered a leg injury that required surgery. So Hauschka was claimed off waivers by the Lions after he had just been released by Atlanta where he was filling in for an injured Matt Bryant.

Hauschka lasted only two and a half weeks with Detroit, kicking in a pair of preseason games that summer. He wouldn’t land the full-time kicking job with the Seahawks until the following season.

“At the beginning of my career (I was) just filling opportunities for a guy that was injured or maybe a guy that was at the end of his career,” he said. “I definitely bounced around. I learned a lot being around some long time veterans. I got to spend a month under, with Jason Hanson, I got to spend some time with Ryan Longwell, and Matt Stover. So those were three experienced kickers and I got to learn something from each one of them. I think it was just a matter of time for me to really get on a roster and get comfortable and just go kick and enjoy it. Once I got that opportunity and got comfortable then it became a lot easier.”

Bills special teams coordinator Danny Crossman knew Seattle had a rookie long snapper and felt there was an advantage to be had for Buffalo’s punt return unit if he had the right guy for the job. Head coach Rex Ryan gave him permission to use his best pass rusher and it all worked at the start of Monday night’s game in Seattle.

After the defense sent the Seattle offense three-and-out on their first possession, Hughes beat his man and blocked Jon Ryan’s punt, which went out of bounds at the three-yard line. A play later Tyrod Taylor was running into the end zone.

“It was Danny Crossman,” said head coach Rex Ryan on where credit should be given. “We knew they had a rookie long snapper who was struggling a little bit in protection and we put our best player in there and Jerry made a great play.”

“There’s a following. It’ll be a good crowd,” Crossman said. “They want to see a good product. The thing about it, I don’t care where you are, especially there in England, they expect high performance. And when you get the best, and the NFL is the best American football in the world they’re excited to see it. They thrive on wanting to see the best. I don’t care if it’s American football, soccer, cricket, they want to see top level performance and they’re passionate about it.

“Now it’s not the same passion as some people who follow their independent football clubs. That’s a whole other level. They’re going to be excited and there’s going to be a different atmosphere of how they conduct themselves during the game. I know having played there it was a live, festive atmosphere.”

Buffalo had 14 penalties in Sunday’s loss to New England and six were committed on special teams. There’s one particular penalty that appeared to be a recurring problem for head coach Rex Ryan that he felt he had to address with special teams coordinator Danny Crossman.

“I met with Danny today about our special teams penalties. That seems to be a big thing,” said Ryan. “There’s a big difference between being aggressive and being foolish. That’s the number one thing about our football team that we have to understand. The second guy always gets the flag. Just some fundamental things that you already know, everybody knows.

“The blocking in the back is killing us. We’ve got to learn from it. It happened in preseason games, so you hope you learn from there, but it carried over. Thigpen’s going to get at least a 20-yard return, you don’t need that block. We have to be smart—pass through. Run through it. You don’t need to make contact with the guy. Those are the things we have to understand and we have to get better at. We’ve got to be smarter at those things. There are certain calls that could have gone either way, probably so. But if they’re close enough to call we have to find a way to get better at it.”

Often lost in Buffalo victories is the performance by the Bills’ special teams units. On Sunday Danny Crossman’s group was on point.

Colton Schmidt had five punts with a solid gross average of just over 50 with an impressive net punting average of 46.2 and a long of 63. His early punts in the game were critical to the field position battle with Indianapolis. The Colts’ first four drive starts were their own 20, own nine, own eight and own four-yard lines. The result of those drives? Punt, punt, INT, punt.

Indianapolis’ average drive start for the game was their own 19-yard line, while Buffalo’s was their own 35. That stat belongs to the Bills special teams unit.

Randell Johnson’s fumble recovery off the muffed punt return by Phillip Dorsett helped the Bills seal the game as it led to an insurance field goal midway through the fourth quarter.

On punt returns for the day Indianapolis had a total gain of one yard.

Dan Carpenter was perfect on field goals and extra points with a pair of 40-plus yarders and all three extra points.

Kickoff specialist Jordan Gay had three touchbacks on six kickoffs with all three going through the back of the end zone. On Gay’s shortest kick, his coverage picked him up. His kick that went just a yard deep in the Colts end zone to start the second quarter was brought out just five yards to the Colts’ four-yard line when Chris Hogan dropped him.

And on a day when Buffalo was flagged for 11 penalties for more than 100 yards, the Bills’ special teams units were responsible for just one.

When Rex Ryan was hired the future of the former staff was up in the air. A few members of Buffalo’s coaching staff were retained including special teams coordinator Danny Crossman. While final roster decisions often lie with the head coach, Crossman is confident that he and Ryan are on the same page when it comes to the importance of special teams.

“I feel that way and playing against coach Ryan every year with the Jets, they were always a team that had a pretty good (special teams) nucleus until kind of the last couple of years when their whole roster started to change,” Crossman told Buffalobills.com. “That will take care of itself. I’m a firm believer that the players who earn the right to be on the team and earn the right to get a uniform on game day they’ll be here. Who, how, that’ll take care of itself and it always does. Coach (Ryan) has been the head coach of some teams that have had some very, very good special teams so I don’t think that’ll be an issue whatsoever.”

During the spring practices Crossman was afforded a good portion of the practice time with his special teams units and he believes some final roster decisions will be made with special teams in mind.

Buffalo’s special teams had a renaissance year last season finishing second overall in the well respected Dallas Morning News comprehensive rankings put together by Rick Gosselin. But there’s always room to improve and there’s one area in particular that coordinator Danny Crossman believes can make a jump this coming season.

Crossman has some short list items as any coach does from one season to the next, but near the top of that list is the punt game. That’s not to indicate that Colton Schmidt struggled last season. As a rookie he performed rather well as he got adjusted to the NFL game. But Crossman wants to see an improvement when it comes to net punting, which means reducing return yardage, improving hang time, forcing fair catches and avoiding touchbacks.

Part of what worked against Schmidt and the punt coverage unit last season was the majority of his kicks were on the opponent’s side of midfield, which negatively impacted gross punting average. That affects net punting average and provides a greater risk for touchbacks off a bounced ball.

“When you talk about punting the football early in the year most of our punts was what we consider plus-50 so we weren’t going to have the big gross and we were going to have an okay net as long as we weren’t getting touchbacks,” Crossman said. “We knew based on where we were we were going to have a high number of inside the 20s and inside the 10s and that’s sort of how the year played out.”

On 86 punts Schmidt had just six touchbacks with 31 punts downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line, which was tied for fourth-best in the NFL last season.

“As a coach you want to be better on everything,” said Crossman. “We need to punt the ball better and we still need to be better in coverage even though we were pretty good at it.”

As a side note, kickoff specialist Jordan Gay also doubles as a punter and will try to give Schmidt some competition in training camp this summer.

He’s gone a long way in making a name for himself on special teams the past two seasons. Now with the special teams unit coming off a season in which they ranked second in the league overall and a squad poised to end Buffalo’s postseason drought, Marcus Easley could earn himself a Pro Bowl nod as a specialist.

When asked about the chances for Pro Bowl recognition for his ace coverage team player, special teams coordinator Danny Crossman, in a forthcoming one-on-one interview with Buffalobills.com, believes it can happen.

“In my opinion absolutely,” Crossman said. “He’s carved a name out around the league for himself the way he’s performed the last two years. A lot of those accolades are garnered by establishing yourself first. You’ve got to have that name recognition that shows you’ve done it at a high level before and then the expectations that people have and are aware of watching you to see if you’re still able to play at that high level. We think he can and we think he will.”

“We’ve got team goals as far as making the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl,” Easley said. “As far as individual success that will come with the team goals. As long as we do our part on offense, defense and special teams guys will get rewarded.”

A good number of NFL observers still think it’s a luxury position, but more and more teams are putting stock in having a kickoff specialist to ensure touchbacks. Buffalo was one of the teams that carried a kickoff specialist last season in Jordan Gay. With a coaching change this offseason some are wondering if Gay is still held in high standing.

All Gay did last season was help improve Buffalo’s kickoff coverage from 17th in 2013 to 3rd in 2014. His touchback percentage (60.5%) was good for ninth in the league, and that doesn’t take into account some of the return men Buffalo faced last season who had free license to bring it out no matter how deep the kick was in the end zone (e.g. Percy Harvin – twice, Cordarelle Patterson).

With Rex Ryan the new head coach, there had been speculation as to where Ryan stood on the importance of having a reliable kickoff specialist. Buffalo’s contract extension for Gay this offseason was one indication that nothing has changed, and special teams coordinator Danny Crossman provided even more clarity as to how much the Bills value Gay’s contributions.

In a forthcoming one-on-one interview with Buffalobills.com, Crossman stated unequivocally that Gay proved his worth last season as deserving of a spot on Buffalo’s deep and talented roster.

“Without question,” said Crossman. “The year that Jordan had… and we think he’s going to be even better. It’s not as much of a luxury if you’re getting a super highly-productive player. I don’t care what it is. You may have a guy on your roster that only plays 15 plays a game, but in those 15 plays a game he gets a sack. Well that value is there. Everyone looks at each position differently. I think Jordan’s value – he showed what he was worth in terms of the depth of the kicks and hang time of the kicks he put us in great position to make a lot of plays.”

Bills DL Alex Carrington is back in the fold after spending the 2014 season with the St. Louis Rams. Not only is Carrington working to make the roster as a defensive lineman, but to re-establish himself as an accomplished kick blocker on field goals and extra points.

Carrington blocked an unheard of four kicks (3 FGs, 1 PAT) back in 2012 with the Bills, earning the nickname ‘MegaHand’ from his teammates. The sixth-year pro hasn’t thought about how the next extra point might aid his efforts to block kicks, but knowing a fake is far less likely from the new line of scrimmage on extra points (15-yard line) it will give the extra point and field goal block unit the chance to be even more aggressive.

“I make a point to get after it every time,” Carrington told Buffalobills.com. “You don’t know when you somebody is going to get lazy over there or have a void in the protection or something. That might be an extra little advantage though.”

Joining a special teams unit that finished second overall in 2014 is something Carrington is looking forward to this fall.

“That puts a big smile on my face because true football fans and anybody who really knows the game knows that a good special teams unit will take you a very long way,” he said. “You put that on top of a good defense… I didn’t even know they were number two. That’s really good. Crossman is a good coach. I’ll see if I can get back out there to block some field goals and extra points.”

Marcus Easley, who just re-signed on Thursday, was glad to see that special teams coordinator Danny Crossman was still on the new coaching staff led by new head coach Rex Ryan. Of course he was also pretty excited to see Ryan named as the Bills new head coach.

“I’m a big fan of Rex Ryan,” said Easley. “I’ve talked to several people that have played with him while he was in New York and everyone had nothing but great things to say about him and the way he runs his team, so as you can see from day one it’s a whole new vibe. It’s a whole new atmosphere with him around. I’m very excited for everything he has to offer and bring to this organization.”

Bills special teams coordinator Danny Crossman had to break in a rookie punter and a kickoff specialist in 2014. On the whole both Colton Schmidt and Jordan Gay performed well for Buffalo. Whether Buffalo’s new head coach Rex Ryan feels a kickoff specialist is necessary is something that will likely be decided in the coming months.

“We haven’t gotten that far yet in the evaluation stage,” said Crossman of keeping a kickoff specialist. “I’m a firm believer if a guy is outstanding at what they do they’ll find work. We were happy with both of those guys and what they were able to do for us. Jordan was a big help in an area where we were lacking a little bit in terms of what he was able to do on kickoffs. Number one touchbacks, but even the returns that did come out against us the drive starts average on the returns was so much better than the touchbacks because of the distance and the hang time and the coverage guys that we added and made it a strength for our special teams.

“There’s a lot of upside with (punter) Colton Schmidt too after he came in right at the start of the season this past year and performed well.”

Not long after Rex Ryan was hired as head coach of the Bills he made a phone call to current special teams coordinator Danny Crossman to see if he could retain him for his staff. Crossman was a guest of the John Murphy Show this week and explained how the interaction with coach Ryan went down.

“He called me and discussed the opportunity for me to stay and with the things that we’ve done and the players that we’ve added and the upswing we were on with the kicking game, I felt very fortunate to continue what we started,” said Crossman. “We’ve had conversations every other day or so, but very upbeat and very positive and really look forward to settling in and spending more time with him.”

Crossman also got a new assistant special teams coach in Eric Smith, who last played safety for the Jets a few seasons ago, and is described by head coach Rex Ryan as one of the smarter young football minds he’s come across.

Long time Dallas Morning News columnist Rick Gosselin was the first to put together a comprehensive analysis of the league’s special teams units more than two decades ago. He’s still putting that rankings list together annually and special teams coordinators value it. Buffalo may have made the biggest single-season jump ever from last year to this past season.

The Bills made a change at offensive coordinator under new head coach Rex Ryan and terminated the contract of defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, but Ryan is going to keep special teams coordinator Danny Crossman in the fold for 2015.

The team made the announcement late Wednesday afternoon. Crossman’s special teams units made widespread improvements from 2013 to 2014, with key additions like Boobie Dixon and Corey Graham filling valuable veteran roles. Crossman also capably blended in a rookie punter and kickoff specialist to help improve the coverage units. Here’s a look at some categories where Buffalo’s special teams improved the most from 2013 to 2014.

He wanted veteran core special teams players as part of his four main special teams units (kick return, kick coverage, punt return, punt coverage) after a trying first year of running Buffalo’s special teams. Now halfway through his second season as Bills special teams coordinator, Danny Crossman is pretty pleased with the growth in team culture on his special teams squad.

Crossman credits players like Boobie Dixon, Corey Graham and Brandon Spikes for convincing younger players of the value of special teams to the outcome of games. It quickly emboldened incumbent special teamers like Chris Hogan, Marcus Easley, Ty Powell, Duke Williams and Ron Brooks to take on more of a lead by example approach for the new arrivals on the roster. Soon the importance and commitment to special teams play reached critical mass.

“The plan up to this point has worked. We’re excited,” Crossman said. “The guys we brought in for leadership as well as performance have done both at a high level. The biggest thing is that leadership. I think some of the other guys have stepped up who were here a year ago and some of the new younger guys that we added this year. Right from the get go they’ve been brought into that culture of what our expectations are and not only coach driven, but player driven. Anytime you get that you’re going to be successful.”

In the third quarter Sunday with the Jets desperate to get something going to improve their field position, they called a lateral pass on a kickoff return. Fortunately Buffalo’s coverage unit was ready for it.

“That’s a play… we talk and harp on so much stuff and talk about awareness and recognition and seeing certain things and when you looked at our guys in the huddle they were aware of what their formation was right from the get go,” said Crossman. “And what different things they do out of certain situations. So I thought they did a great job of recognizing the play and the front side guys playing the play. The back side guys playing the possibility of a reverse. But it’s like anything in this league when you’re hunting big game, sometimes the big game is hunting you. It’s a play by play thing.”

Crossman is generally happy with what his special teams units have accomplished so far, but truly believes that it just takes one big play against you to reverse the positive momentum you’ve built up all season. So he intends to remain vigilant with his players and hopes to have Marcus Easley and Ty Powell, two key special teams players back after the bye.

The Bills not only have back-to-back winners for AFC Special Teams Player of the Week in Dan Carpenter and C.J. Spiller, they’ve got a host of starters playing important roles on their special teams units under coordinator Danny Crossman. Head coach Doug Marrone said the impact of their core special teamers and starters from offense and defense on those units has been critical.

“There are about 30-something positions on special teams. You have four or five, sometimes you can have six, core players that can play a majority of those four. Then, all of the sudden, due to injuries you start having to watch out about those snap counts with everyone. We do have starters on most teams, at least one phase of it,” said Marrone.

“For Robert Woods to go down there and make that play, which was a great play, we pointed that out to the team. Brandon Spikes blocked for CJ Spiller. We pointed that out. Leodis coming from 50-something yards downfield to be in the mix for the blocked punt. I think that just goes to show the type of effort that our starters are giving on special teams, which I think is important,” Marrone said. “Corey Graham is playing all over the place. You can sit there and preach that as a coach, but when those players go out there and the rest of the team can see it on the field then that will make you better. We’ve been playing well on special teams right now and we need to keep going.”

The Bills currently rank second in the league in kick return average and fifth in the league in punt coverage.

The Bills did not have a good season on kick returns last year. We profiled who the team’s kick returner might be for the 2014 season in today’s installment of our daily Camp Countdown series on the home page. No matter who it is it will be interesting to see if circumstance and return philosophy has the impact it did on their productivity last season.

Buffalo’s kick return unit was largely the victim of circumstance last season. In facing a lot of the league’s big legged kickoff specialists the Bills far and away had the highest touchback percentage in the NFL in 2013. A whopping 71.8% of their kickoffs received went for touchbacks, good for most in the league.

The only other teams that were close were Atlanta (70.7%) and New Orleans (68.1%), which wasn’t surprising with both being dome teams. The league average for touchbacks however, was less than 50 percent (49.9%).

The Bills also had the second-highest number of kickoffs received that reached the end zone (91.8%). Only Atlanta had a higher percentage.

Now not every kick that reaches the end zone means it should be at touchback, but it at least appeared more often than not that anything more than five yards deep in the end zone the Bills would take a knee. Other teams chose to be more aggressive and paid the price for it so it’s not an easy call as to where the line of demarcation should be to take a knee or bring it out.

Either way it’s going to be interesting to see the steps Buffalo’s kick return unit takes in year two under Crossman.

One last note from Bills minicamp day 2. During a special teams segment coordinator Danny Crossman had the field goal unit running through a series of eight attempts with Dan Carpenter taking all of them. Here’s how Carpenter fared.